Sourdough Unniyappam

If you love Danish aebleskiver then this is an egg free Indian version called the Unniyappam. This is one of the favorite dishes and loved it from a young age, and it goes well with a cup of tea or coffee. I tried using a sourdough starter for making unniyappam. This is a simple recipe and you need only a few ingredients along with sourdough starter.

What is Unniyappam?

Unniyappam is a small round snack made from rice, jaggery, banana, roasted coconut pieces, roasted sesame seeds, ghee and cardamom powder fried in oil. Variations of this organic and spongy fried batter using jackfruit  instead of banana is common. It is a popular snack in Kerala. In Malayalam, unni means small and appam means rice cake.

It is said that unniyappam was the first offering given to Kottarakkara, Kerala, India Ganapati temple which was installed by Peruthachan.

How I made Sourdough Unniyappam?

Traditional unniyappam recipe uses rice flour. There is other version with whole wheat flour and semolina. I think this sourdough Unniyappam is closer to Poffertjes in batter and Aebleskiver in shape.

You need approximately 1 cup of sourdough starter which softens the unniyappam along with banana.

I used traditional sweetener jaggery for this recipe you can try with dark brown sugar too.

Addition of pinch of baking soda brings down the sour tang of sourdough.

If you want, you can add coconut pieces or sesame seeds just like traditional version, I skipped it as my kids are not that fond of it.

I like to deep fry, if you are not comfortable then brush the pan with oil and cook the sourdough unniyappam. I am not sure how it affects the taste. If you try it please share your input. I would love to hear it.

I think 14-16-hour old starter is good, other wise it has more tang in the recipe.

Points to remember
Try to cook the unniyappam in medium or low flame. High flame makes the unniyappam cook fast outside and inside is not cooked at the same time.

You can add Jackfruit in the place of banana I have tried that one version of Unniyappam.

Use cardamom, which is traditional spice, if you do not have cardamom in hand you can try with cinnamon.

I used 100% sourdough starter which is made with 50: 50 ratios of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour, I think you can use any flour starter.

This batter will be a little bit thinner than the Dosa batter or pancake batter.

Make sure to cook to only golden-brown color as it tends to cook while it cools down.

Regarding cooking sourdough unniyappam, I used peanut oil if you want you can use coconut oil or ghee.

To reduce the amount of batter sticking on to the 'pan', let the pan heat up a bit before adding the Oil. Let the Oil heat again before adding the batter.

This recipe can be easily doubled.

 Try this enjoy with cup of tea or coffee.

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Sourdough Unniyappam

Delicious Indian traditional snack made with sourdough starter, jaggery, semolina and banana with touch of cardamom.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time25 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Sourdough Unniyappam

Servings: 10 servings

Calories: 215kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

• 1 cup/220g Sourdough Starter
• ¾ cup /150g Jaggery Use brown sugar instead
• ¾ cup /140g Semolina Rava
• 1 medium banana mashed
• ¼ teaspoon or 5 cardamom pods crushed
• ¼ cup /50g water
• ⅛ teaspoon of baking soda
• ½ cup Peanut oil for frying

Instructions

• Melt Jaggery with ¼ cup of water and sieve with a strainer, to remove impurities if any are present.
• In a bowl mash the banana into a puree with a masher and set aside.
• In a large bowl add starter, melted and strained jaggery, semolina flour, baking soda and crushed cardamom, to make a thick pancake batter. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.
• Heat oil in appakara (like Aebleskiver Pan and when it ready (around 365F) add batter to the mold. As one side ready (after 3 minutes) turn and cook the other side also (4 minutes). Remove it from the appakara when a skewer comes out clean. You can also use a spoon to transfer the cooked unniyappam. Transfer to kitchen towel to remove excess of oil. Repeat the process until the entire batter is finished. Enjoy

Video

Notes

If you are using brown sugar then add a pinch of salt to the batter.

Nutrition

Calories: 215kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 14mg | Potassium: 66mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 8IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

If you are looking for traditional Unniyappam 

One with Jackfruit  here is the recipe 

Swathi

This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread.  All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.